Plastic bags such as those obtained to carry groceries when grocery shopping, are often used for a purpose other than carrying groceries when the bags reach a consumer's home. Alternative purposes may include acting as a garbage bag or acting as a container for virtually any type of goods. The use of a plastic bag as a garbage bag, for example, requires that either the bag be held open permanently or opened each time an article is placed in the bag.
To open the bag each time requires two-handed operation which is not always possible or convenient. Furthermore, because of the collapsible nature of plastic bags, the bag can be more useful if it is suspended in some way. Thus, means for holding the bag open and for supporting the bag for filling would be desirable.
To hold a plastic bag open, a device such as that described in Canadian Patent No. 1,100,926 issued to Lunde may be used. The Lunde device has outwardly protruding arms which hold a first and second handle of the bag in a rigid spaced apart position thereby holding an opening in the bag at its maximum size. A bag held in this way is susceptible to over filling which can lead to excessive weight, often ripping the handles off the bag. Over filling the bag can prevent it from being closed thereby possibly allowing articles to fall out of the bag. Furthermore, the Lunde device is fixed in size and may not be readily adjusted to hold bags of different sizes.